The bill appears to be part of a trend of pro-gun lawmakers trying to remove checks on who may have a firearm in public spaces. Until 2007, Vermont was the only state in the country that did not require gun permits to carry a gun in public. In recent years, however, legislation eliminating the permit requirement became law in Wyoming, Arizona, Alaska, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

A likely explanation for why the NRA’s narrative does not actually resemble reality is that mass shootings — the kind of gun murders where an armed vigilante would be most useful — are actually quite rare. According to a paper by Josh Blackman, a libertarian law professor at South Texas College of Law, “[r]oughly .1% of deaths from gunfire take place during a mass shooting (defined as 4 or more deaths in a single event). The overwhelming majority, 99.9% are not during a mass shooting.”

Advertisement

The most common motive for gun homicides is an argument, often involving a drunken assailant. As Washington State Sociology Professor Jennifer Schwartz explains, “[n]early half of all homicides, committed by men or women, were preceded by some sort of argument or fight, such as a conflict over money or property, anger over one partner cheating on another, severe punishment of a child or abuse of a partner, retaliation for an earlier dispute, or a drunken fight over an insult or other affront.” When an argument breaks out that otherwise would have only escalated to screaming or hitting, and a gun is readily available, that argument can turn into a murder.